Andrea Thomas' Intro

Andrea walked into the saloon. She was dressed in a gingham dress and when she asked to play a hand at cards, the men laughed.

"Ah, come on boys, let the lady play. It could be fun." One man had said so they made room for her as they all got his meaning. He was the owner of the establishment and one of his "Ladies of the Night" had just passed away because of a beating he had given her.

The men were surprised when she started winning and never lost a hand.

Sure she gave up some money when she folded, but always seemed to get her money plus some back in the next hand.

They were also surprised when another young girl came in and joined them.

The owner thought for sure he could get one if not both of them to be so far in his debt that he could offer for them to "work it off". New lady introduced herself as Sarah.

The ladies seemed to "clean" the men out of their money. But as hard as they tried, they couldn't read each other. They ended up having the same amount of winnings. After they left the saloon they found out that their hotel rooms were next to each other.

The next morning, Sarah was waiting for Andrea in the hotel restaurant.

"Andrea, I would like to talk to you."

"Sure, Sarah, what is it?" Andrea stated as she joined Sarah at her table.

"I was wondering if you had seen anybody who could have looked like this as a baby?"

Andrea studied the picture, "I'm sorry to say, no I haven't." Andrea started to get up when she thought that she could ask Sarah if she had seen her friend. "Have you seen anyone that looks like this picture?"

It was Sarah's turn to study a picture and be disappointed that she couldn't help, "No, I'm sorry I haven't."

"Well, then I guess the next step is to ask the business men if they have seen our friends."

"I'm looking for my twin brother. We were separated when we were adopted."

"Oh I'm sorry." Andrea stated. "I tell you what why don't I help you look for your brother?"

"And I can help you look for your friend."

Both girls smiled. "Great!" they said in unison as they walked out of the hotel.

"By the way how did you learn to play cards like that?"

"My father taught me before he died. How did you learn to play that well?"

"Learned from the older boys at the orphanage, after my parents died." The girls spent all day asking around St. Joe if anyone had seen the people they were searching for and had no luck. They decided to keep searching in the next town. Soon they became best friends keeping nothing a secret between them. After months of searching with no luck the came across a sign in a little town called Clover Town. The sign read:

WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert rider willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. $25 per week.

The two girls looked at each other. Their money was running out and they both loved to ride, and both were expert riders. Andy drug Sarah to the edge of town. Listen, I know we can both do that job. What do you say we give it a try?"

"But Andrea, it said fellows and fellows are men. Not girls."

"We can cut our hair, I'll cut yours and you can cut mine and then we shorten our names, no one will know that we are girls. Back home my parents would call me Andy sometimes."

"That's great for you, Andy, but you can't shorten Sarah to be a boy's name." Andy could hear the disappointment in her close friend's voice.

"No, but you can shorten Alexandria to Alex." Andy said with a huge grin.

After a moment's thought, Sarah said, "Alex, humm...like that." Then she grinned and continued, "Let's do it!"

Before they cut each other's hair they bought some men's clothes. When they were asked why they were buying men's clothing the girls told the tailor that they were buying them for their brothers, who were too busy tending to the cattle to buy the clothes themselves. The tailor seemed to buy the story, and the girls bought the clothes and went back to where they had made camp the night before. They cut each other's hair and changed into their new personas, Andy and Alex.

When they got back into town, Alex asked the storeowner about the riders wanted sign in the window. "Well, The Sweetwater Station is just about a half day's ride from here. The stationmaster there can tell if they need any more riders. I don't know it's been there in the window a long time. I know that the Pony Express should be starting on April 3 of this year. They may have all the riders they need, Son. But for your sakes I hope they don't."

"Thank you Sir." Andy said and the two girls headed west towards Sweetwater.